


Scenes

by machka



Series: Hard Lessons [3]
Category: Real Person Fiction, Tulsa Gangstas
Genre: BDSM, Bad BDSM Etiquette, Bondage, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-08-07
Updated: 2008-08-07
Packaged: 2017-10-20 01:50:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/207506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/machka/pseuds/machka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scenes from a friendship</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scenes

**Author's Note:**

> Backstory for "Broken Trust" and a follow-up to "Safe."
> 
> Starts in the near-present, regresses into the past, and ends in the immediate present.  
>  _III. Spring_ is set in 2008  
>  _II. Summer_ is set in 2007  
>  _I. Winter_ is set in 2006  
>  _...And the fall (Summer, again)_ is back in 2008.
> 
> Disclaimer: The following is a work of fiction. The events described therein are not intended to represent actual events. No libel or defamation is intended in posting said fictitious work.
> 
> In other words, it's not real, because I made it all up.

  
_III. Spring_   


"Hey, David -- great news! We made it, man -- we're here!"

"Wait, what? Where? Who's 'we'?"

"'We' is Neal, Alexis and myself -- only your _bestest_ friends in the whole wide world -- and 'where' is _El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles_!"

"...What?!"

"Los Angeles, Dave -- you know, El-Ay? Hollywood? The place where you've been hiding for much too long?"

"Damn it! Why didn't you guys tell me you were coming? Dude, we could've planned some awesomely touristy shit to do, or I could've gotten you tickets to the show... Man, you guys suck!"

"We've already _got_ tickets, dude -- have I ever told you that your mom is six kinds of awesome?"

"Andy, you still should have called me..."

"Dude, c'mon now, be serious. We're all set, I promise. We know that you're incredibly super stressed-out from the show, and your mom said they practically have you chained to the Idol apartments anyway -- we didn't want you to have to worry about keeping us entertained. Besides, from what I've heard from Drew, you've been too busy, um...'entertaining' your latest boy-toy to keep in touch much anyway..."

"Do you _have_ to make it sound so prurient?"

"Do you _have_ to use such big words?"

A small sound of exasperation. "Andy!"

"David!"

Vague sputtering from one end of line, and shameless giggles from the other.

"...Shut up!"

"Don't try telling me you're _upset_ with me, Davey, because I don't believe it for a minute."

"God damn it, Skib, I know you wanted to surprise me..."

"Of course I wanted to surprise you, dumbass, but that's only half the fun!"

"...What's the other half?"

"Oh, that? Well! That's when I tell you my unbelievably awesome news!"

Several moments of silence.

An inarticulate noise of extreme frustration.

An innocent question, wrapped in barely-contained laughter. "...What?"

" _What news?_ "

Muffled sounds of a phone being shifted, and light rapping against wood.

"Well, I'm not gonna tell you through this-here closed door."

Seconds later, the door in front of Andy flew open, and David was standing there with an expression that radiated a jumbled mixture of shock, irritation and relief.

"Wait--" Andy watched his expression shift towards confusion. "How did you even get _in_ here?"

"...Can I just say again how fucking amazing your mom is?" Andy smirked, fingering the all-access security pass around his neck.

"Yeah, sure...So...What news?" David repeated dumbly, leaning against the door for support.

"Remember the new songs I told you about? I start tracking 'em in Burbank on Wednesday." Just one look at the dawning gleam in David's eyes, and Andy's grin widened so much he thought his face might split in two. "I've got everyone's blessings _and_ a rat-hole of an apartment down the street -- in other words, you're doomed. You're gonna be stuck with me for a good long while. Isn't that the shittiest thing you've ever heard?"

"Worst. News. Ever," David agreed, relinquishing his grip on the doorknob to throw his arms around his best friend. "Wow, you're actually...I don't believe it!"

"Believe it, Dave -- I'm here."

David's words were muffled against Andy's neck. "...I'm glad you came."

"Me too."

~~~~~~~~~~

 _II. Summer_  


"Andy, you are _never_ gonna believe this...I'm going to Hollywood!"

Four words -- four simple words -- and suddenly Andy could no longer breathe.

"Wow. Um...That's...But...no, wait. _Andrew_ was the one auditioning. I thought...Didn't you say you were just there for moral support?"

David cleared his throat nervously on the other end. "Uh, yeah, about that..."

He sounded so charmingly sheepish that Andy could almost forgive him this bombshell.

 _Almost._

"...Look, man, it wasn't my idea, I swear," David continued, his voice suddenly soft and unsteady. "They...the producers came over to interview Drew, sure, but then they shoved the camera in _my_ face and started asking _me_ questions and it was just _so_ God-damned early and dark and fuckin' cold and just _pissing_ down rain and I _told_ them I wasn't there for that, but they told me now I _was_ , and Mom and Drew told me I _should_ , and I totally wasn't planning on it but then it _happened_ and I got through to the judging round and Drew _didn't_ and he told me he was gonna kick my ass if I didn't go through with it and then my _God_ they were handing me that fucking golden ticket, and _no_ I didn't plan on it but it happened and holy fucking _shit_ , Andy, I'm going to mother-fuckin' _Hollywood_!"

Hollywood.

From tiny-town Missouri to fucking Tulsa to _butt_ -fucking Omaha to mother-fucking _Hollywood_ and its bright lights and its star machine and the big city that swallowed small-town boys whole...

"...Andy?"

David's tone had shifted to uncertainty, and Andy realized belatedly that several seconds had passed in dead silence.

"...I'm here."

"Please, Andy...I'm sorry...Honest to _God_ , I didn't--I never intended..."

"God, Davey, don't apologize," he replied heavily. "It's just...yeah."

"...I know," David answered, and Andy knew that David really _did_.

A burst of static on the line, and David cleared his throat again.

"Look, Andy..." he continued finally, "I don't have to be there until December...we've still got time..."

"Yeah, plenty of time..." Andy murmured, and forced a brightness into his voice that he really didn't feel. "Seriously, Dave, this is great. I'm happy for you -- _really_ happy for you, man," he lied. "You do realize now that your street cred is completely shot to Hell, right?"

David barked out a laugh.

"But I mean, wow, man..." Andy continued softly, "Hollywood, y'know? This is your big chance, isn't it? You deserve it, Dave -- you totally deserve it."

"Thanks, man..." David exhaled with a sigh, as though he'd been holding his breath, dreading Andy's response, and only with Andy's blessing could he finally allow himself to breathe...

The relief in his voice carved into the younger man, twisting his gut with guilt as it caught him in a selfish unspoken and most fervent wish that his best friend would actually fail.

He _wanted_ David to be happy -- honestly, he did. He really and truly wanted only the best for him...

He just wished it wasn't so damn far _away_.

"David?...When are you coming home?"

He tried his damnedest to swallow the burr in his voice, but there it was...and David, being _David_ , picked up on it instantly.

"Soon, Andy...soon," he murmured, his voice deepening and resonating with reassurance. "I promise."

Andy choked on a weak laugh that fooled neither of them. "It's a date."

~~~~~~~~~~

 _I. Winter_  


"Hi, you've reached Dave's phone...knowing him, that idiot set me aside to grab a beer and promptly forgot where he left me. Leave a message and he'll call you as soon as he finds me again..."

-*beep*-

"Damn it, David, this is the third time in ten minutes I've called, and every single time I've gotten your voice mail. Consider your alarm activated." A pause. "...Fuck it. I'm calling Neal. Hope you can forgive me."

Andy stabbed the next quick-call button on his phone and pressed it to his ear, staring out the window at the glistening snow swirling in the glow of the streetlights. "So help me God, Neal, if you don't answer..." he muttered to his reflection in the cold glass, shivering sympathetically.

One ring... two...

"What."

The gruff greeting wasn't completely out of character for the man, but the irritation in his tone certainly was.

"Neal, I need to know what's going on."

"I dunno wha'chure talkin' 'bout," the other man slurred back.

Andy blinked. "...Are you _drunk?_ "

"What'f I am?"

Andy was pulling on his coat and flying out the door in an instant. "Where's David, Neal?"

"None a' your damn bizness..."

Andy slammed his car door and cranked the engine into life. "I'm _making_ it my business, Neal, and so did David when he set up a silent alarm. Now please tell me what the fuck is going on!"

"An _alarm?_ Oh Christ, that's rich!" Neal's bitterness bled through the phone line, and Andy pressed harder on the accelerator in unconscious response. "So much for claiming to trust me, that little fucker..."

"Right now, I don't think I'd trust you either!" Andy ground out between clenched teeth.

"Oh, get offa yer high horse there, Skib. Davey's a big boy. He knew 'zactly what he was gettin' into..."

"Somehow, I doubt that," Andy snapped. He sucked in a deep breath as a burst of background laughter and hooted cat-calls made him clench the phone tighter. "Are you throwing a _party?_ "

"C'mon, Skib...I had this 'play party' planned f'r couple'a weeks now...saw no reason t'cancel it just 'cuz he decided he din't wanna pa'ticipate..."

"Did you even ask him?"

"...Why th'fuck would I?"

"Are you fucking _serious?_ "

Andy's knuckles whitened as he gripped the steering wheel.

 _No...stay calm -- keep a level head..._

"Neal," he continued, somehow managing to steady his voice, "I'm on my way over, and I'm taking David home with me."

"Jesus-fucking-Christ, Skib!" Neal snarled. "Why you'd even want that useless, fuckin' worthless piece of shit..."

"Okay, Neal, see right there? That's the alcohol talking..."

"Yeah, prob'ly, but s'true. He bailed out on me for the last fuckin' time, dude -- 'm tired of him."

"You're not tired of him, Neal -- you _love_ him, and you know it. But right now you're _drunk_ \-- he's not safe with you..."

"...Y'know? You're abs'lutely right..."

His casual admission stunned Andy into silence before the line went dead in his ear.

Cursing the laws of physics, he crushed the gas pedal to the floor.

\----------

  


>   
> _he had no strength left to fight the tremors running through him. he slid slowly down the wall until brought up short by the loops of rope around his wrists. his collar was pressing against his throat...tipping his head back instinctively, he gulped air into his lungs while his rational mind mocked his actions._
> 
>  _he'd been left here, alone. Master didn't care what happened to him. He wasn't coming back._
> 
>  _he'd given up trying to count the number of new arrivals, stopped trying to count the cars pulling up and the voices joining the din in the room down the hall..._
> 
>  _Master had been planning this day a long time. Master had been counting on him._
> 
>  _when the time had come to make his Master proud...he had disappointed Him. he had_ failed. __
> 
>  _that thought alone would have been punishment enough...but Master never did anything half-way._
> 
>  _his stoic silence and a bottle of whiskey had only fueled his Master's anger._
> 
>  _in the end, Master had won. He always fucking won._
> 
>  _the muffled sob had barely passed his lips before Master had slammed him against the wall a final time, so hard he'd lost his consciousness along with his breath... he'd awakened with both wrists and his collar tied securely to a ring on the wall._
> 
>  _the blood trickling down his forearms had long since cooled and dried before he'd stopped the futile struggle to free himself._
> 
>  _he was at his Master's mercy. he was never meant to escape._
> 
>  _the thought filled him with sick despair._
> 
>  _he'd lost track of how long he'd been suspended there... long enough for the grey light of dusk to have faded into night; long enough for the chill in the room to have become a bite; long enough for the residual moisture in the outside air to have condensed and precipitated out as snow; long enough for the remaining blood to have drained completely from his enervated arms, for them to have ceased tingling and to have fallen numb..._
> 
>  _he desperately wished for his aching body to do the same._
> 
>  _it would be so easy..._
> 
>  _he threw his weight forward and the collar shifted, cutting off his air. squeezing his eyes shut against the sting of tears, he watched pinpricks of light blossom and grow against the backs of his eyelids, feeling his head lighten as his body sagged, slumped further down the wall, slid onto the floor..._
> 
>  _he was worthless. he was useless. he deserved to die._
> 
>  _Master had told him so._   
> 

  


\----------

"This better not be locked...Don't make me have to break down this door, man; I've never had to do something like that before..."

"It's open, trus' me..."

"Um." An open look of appraisal. "No offense, Neal..."

"Fuck you, Skib."

The shuddering protest of hinges.

A stunned pause of horror.

Chaos.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Neal -- what the hell did you do?"

"Oh my God...David?"

"The shears, Neal! _Where are your fucking shears?!_ "

"Davey? David!"

"Get the fuck out of the _way,_ Neal!"

"...Is he..."

"...No."

"Oh, thank God..."

"Get out of my way, dammit! -- David, can you hear me? -- Fuck, he's so _cold_..."

"Dave, 'm so sorry...I swear to _God_ , David, 'm never ever gonna drink again..."

"Don't be making promises you'll never keep, Neal."

"...You're right, Andy...'m no good for him...."

"Stop it, Neal -- just stop it!"

"He's better off w'thout me..."

"You can feel sorry for yourself later! Just...C'mere. Help me warm him up..."

"--Iz'y gonna die, Andy?"

" _No,_ he's not gonna die! Fuck, Neal, don't start...Just--keep talking to him."

"...Davey, 'm sorry this happened...I never should've asked you t'do this...I shouldn't've bin drinkin'. I never should've said or done any of th' shit I did...I don't d'serve you, Davey. I'll n'ver do it again, I swear -- I'll get help. I'll never lay 'nother hand on you, ever -- God, just...please be okay, Davey...please..."

"...He's way too cold...We need a blanket..."

"I'll get it...No, 's okay, Andy...b'sides, I don't trust m'self with him anymore...this's m'fault. He needs you, not me..."

Andy pulled the prostrate man more tightly against his chest, watching Neal stumble out of the room. With a heavy sigh, he tucked his chin against the crook of David's neck.

"God damn it, Dave...why do you do this to yourself?" he muttered softly.

A low groan answered him from the back of the other man's throat.

"Shh, David, it's me...You don't have to talk, it's okay..." Andy murmured.

"...Neal?"

"...He's around..."

"...Drunk..."

"...Yeah."

Andy watched the corner of David's mouth twitch upward in more of a grimace than a smile.

"David, where were you just now?" he asked quietly.

The other man refused to answer, and what was left of the grimace-smile slipped away.

"Nowhere good, I'd wager," Andy continued, keeping his voice soft and neutral. "What happened to you tonight?"

"Nothing."

"You're lying," Andy replied gently. "Please don't get defensive, David...He said some things that have me worried, especially after what I saw when we opened that door..."

David's jaw clenched, but he remained silent.

"Davey, talk to me -- please?"

"He..." David paused for a deep breath that rattled in his throat. "Apparently, I'm so fucking useless and worthless and such a complete and utter disappointing failure that I'd be better off dead than wasting his precious time," he finished quietly.

"You know that's not true."

"No, I _don't_...but it's okay."

"God! No, it's not 'okay', David -- it's bullshit!" Andy exploded. "Jesus, David -- you're the only person I've ever met that will top from the bottom _relentlessly,_ but still take all the worst shit to heart! I just wish you'd let me..."

Feeling the other man tense in his arms, Andy snapped his mouth shut on the rest of his diatribe.

"What, Andy?" David asked, his voice dangerously low. "Wish I'd let you what?"

Andy shifted uncomfortably. "I...I just want you to be happy, David, that's all. This--" he gestured with a waving hand, "--is not happy -- this is _horrible._ "

"My _hero._ "

"Not funny, David, so lose the fucking sarcasm," Andy flared back. " _You_ pulled me into this -- the only reason I'm even here is because you set up that alarm -- and you did it for a _reason._ " He tightened his grip around the older man. "What would have happened if I hadn't come, David?" He paused, struggling to control his emotions as his voice cracked unwelcomely. "You have to be able to trust him with your life. Can you, Dave? After tonight, can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that you do?"

"...No." David slumped into Andy's arms, sounding defeated.

Andy pressed his cheek against his friend's in a gesture of solace.

They fell silent again, listening to the car doors slamming as the party guests were apparently instructed to depart.

"For what it's worth, Dave, Neal's pretty upset over what happened..."

"Yeah, I heard him earlier," David whispered hoarsely, keeping his eyes closed. "So, we haf'ta make nice, then, is what you're gonna say... You're gonna tell me to talk to him, aren't you... Yeah, I know you... 'All talk, no action' Skib: that's what Neal calls you..." he rambled, shifting his shoulders against Andy's chest to get more comfortable. "Whatever, I dunno... From 'no action' to 'action hero' in the blink of eye...that's pretty amazing..." His eyes popped open, and he craned his neck gingerly to stare into Andy's face, slightly cross-eyed from the proximity. "Oh my God, seriously, I have to know -- please, oh please will you sign my left ass cheek, Mr. Heroman, please? Everyone needs to have a hero..."

"Okay, it's completely obvious that oxygen deprivation has affected your brain."

Andy felt David's cheek bunch up in a grin.

"Hey, I asked nicely..."

"God, you are going to be the absolute death of me," Andy grumbled under his breath.

"...I'm glad you're here."

"Any time, Davey. Any time you need me, I'll be here."

"...Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"...Promise?"

Andy smiled. "It's a deal."

~~~~~~~~~~

 _...And the fall  
Summer, again_  


The man beside him stirred, rousing him out of the light doze to which he had finally surrendered. A hand groped for him sleepily, and he reached out with his own to grasp it. Entwining his fingers with the other's, he pulled their joined hands to his lips for a gentle kiss. The other man shifted instinctively towards his comforting presence.

He watched the man's eyes flutter open, struggling to focus a gaze still muzzy with sleep and cheap beer.

"...Andy...?"

"Shh, David..." he murmured, keeping his voice low. "I'm right here...I've got you..."

Blinking slowly, David tightened his grip on Andy's hand. "You're here..." he breathed, his lips parting in a soft, wondering smile. "You're really here..."

"Yes, Davey, I'm here..." Andy replied quietly, his heart squeezing in his chest. "I promised I'd always be here."

"...I'm glad..." David sighed, his eyelids drooping with a weariness that simply could no longer be fought. Within seconds, he had drifted back to sleep, that small smile still gracing his lips.

"Me too, David," Andy whispered, curling his body protectively around David's. "...Me too."


End file.
